By Harry Mottram: when Sue Townsend wrote The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4 back in 1982 she could not have foreseen its success with a long list of sequels, a TV series, a radio adaptation and a musical.
The musical version of the growing pains of the awkward schoolboy and self-identified intellectual was first staged at Leicester’s Curve Theatre in March 2015 by Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary.
Set in the early 1980s Adrian is tormented by his crush on the school girl Pandora, his anger with Margaret Thatcher and his views on anything from the Falklands War to Princess Diana. The humour comes from his diary in which he is an unreliable narrator as he misunderstands situations and conversations setting him up for life as a depressed intellectual.
Next Stage Theatre Company bring the musical version to the Mission Theatre with a run of Tuesday 21st to Saturday 25th March nightly at 7.30pm. The cast of Bathonians include Fin Hancorn as Adrian with Ren Leming and Claire Rumball as Mr and Mrs Lucas with Mike Stevens and Vanessa Bishop as Mr and Mrs Mole.
Tickets and more info: http://www.missiontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/2023/3/21/the-secret-diary-of-adrian-mole-aged-13-by-sue-townsend